Re: My life in shambles (not poker related)
 

Howdy.

Just to introduce myself in my first ever post on this site, I consider myself a slightly below average poker player (although net positive in the 5 months of play). I play on pokerroom.com only for now. I also happen to be an actuary (or an actuarial student).

First off, if you plan to become an actuary, you don't need expensive education. 80% of my department comes for CUNY colleges. Those cost $3K a year. You might consider transfering. Of course, there are other factors in play when it comes to choosing colleges, but give it a thought.

Secondly, I failed 4 courses in my college career. I had to change my major because of it, in fact. Graduated with 3.4 GPA out of a no-name college. Reality is, GPA doesn't matter to actuarial employers that much. Demand still exceeds supply. I had two actuarial exams passed and I got my first (and only so far) job while I was finishing my last semester. I didnt have any prior actuarial experience. No internships or anything.

If you end up working as an actuary, you will most likely have to take lots of exams. Tough exams. If you can't study now, you won't make it later. It is much harder to study on your own than in a structured college environment. Maybe you need to reconsider your career plans. Or better yet, try to take an exam while you are out of college to see if you can do it. Next exam is in May, you have plenty of time. It will cost you more than 300$ for fees and books and whatnot, but it's well worth it in the long run. Even if you fail, it won't mean that you can't pass it later. Passing rates are around 40%. But it will give you an idea for what to expect.

Re: My life in shambles (not poker related)
 

I'm going to go along with the others.

I was a star student until I hit a motivational wall halfway through my sophomore year. It wasn't partying. I just couldn't find the motivation for it anymore. My otherwise great GPA plummeted in one semester.

So, I took 17 and a half years off to work instead. Work made sense, and fortunately, I could find a job.

The wonderful thing about the US is that you can always go back to college any time you have the money and time. Maybe not the best college, but some college. There are always additional opportunities. I entered college in '73 and finally got my BA in '94. Took me 21 years to graduate, but I eventually made it.

One thing that I did find: after years of toughing it out, making a living for myself, when I did return to college, I found it exceptionally trivial to maintain a 4.0, take a heavy load, and generally get myself the rest of the way through my undergrad degree. I guess I'd just done some growing up, or maybe I needed to get away from the educational system for a while. Also, paying out of one's own pocket does wonders to focus your attention.

I nearly hit a similar wall about half-way to my PhD (like everyone else here, in Psychology). It seemed like I never had enough time to really study or learn. All it seemed like I was doing was last minute crams to just barely tick the requirements off in time.

I talked to my advisor about this, and his response was "What makes you think it's any different for anyone else?"

That actually helped a lot.

Re: My life in shambles (not poker related)
 

I practically did the same thing during my second semester of college, but I think to a worse degree...

I went to classes for about a week and a half and stopped going. Too much partying was the culprit, but the problem was that I NEVER withdrew. That's right: 0.0 GPA for that semester. Awesome.

Anyway, obviously I was kicked out for a semester and had to re-apply with letters of recommendation to get back in. I got back in, but the main problem was my GPA was like a 1.1 or something like that as a result of my freshman year follies.

THE ANSWER: ACADEMIC BANKRUPTCY

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet, but it is something that university admissions depts. don't throw around freely, for fear of abuse of the system.

What happens is you get full credit for all classes that you have passed in previous semesters, but begin with a total clean slate as far as GPA is concerned. Therefore, upon returning, if you throw down a 4.0 that semester, your total GPA will be a 4.0.

Thanks to academic bankruptcy I graduated with a 3.31, otherwise it would have been much lower. You wouldn't believe how many people I have met who could have benefitted from this but never knew about it.

Hope this helps.

Re: My life in shambles (not poker related)
 

I'm sorry, but it sounds like you're lazy and need to get off your ass and do some work. I'm usually a pretty empathetic type, but your story just smacks of "college party boy feels sorry for self after pissing away semester". Get off your ass and fix your life.

Re: My life in shambles (not poker related)
 

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Thanks for reading. If you feel like replying at all, feel free. My feelings won't be hurt at all by anything you have to say. Even if it's "No one gives a *bleep*"

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The biggest lesson you will learn in college is just this. That noone gives a *bleep*. It is your life now. Time to grow up. See a counselor for help. Good luck to you.

Re: My life in shambles (not poker related)
 

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Of course it's also a good idea to study and try harder, you owe it to yourself. Ultimately, however, this episode doesn't really matter and you'll forget about it in a couple years. Chear up. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

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My thoughts exactly. You´ll figure things out. Good luck and take care!

Re: My life in shambles (not poker related)
 

Dude, I went through the same thing, except it took me 2 extra semesters to get my act together. Here's my assessment of the situation.

1.) Its not a big deal. Getting a bad grade will not change who you are, or what you will be able to do with your life.

2.) How do you know you really want to be an actuary? I ask this because when you know what you want to do, everything else becomes easier. Like when you go to drivers ed cause it will help you get your license 6 months earlier. You were there for a reason, you didn't want to be, but it was getting you something you wanted.

3. If you have to pay your own way, don't go to PSU. Its just way too expensive. Go to a state school in NH. Depending on what you want to do, your degree and GPA are what's important.

4. To the guy who said its not what you know, its who you know... That's a load of crap.

5. Take some time off. Experience working a shitty job, and you'll learn how easy college is, and will want to work to get a better life for yourself.

6. In closing, DO NOT GET DOWN ON YOURSELF. In some aspects this is a very hard time in life. You're confused and aren't sure what you want.

PS. Don't say "I'm incredibly intelligent." People who truly are don't say that kind of stuff.

Now, if you want to discuss this more, PM and I can chat with you. I've been through this myself. (And am doing just fine.)

BeerMoney.

Re: My life in shambles (not poker related)
 

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This is a sob story. This is a chance for me to get everything out to a bunch of anonymous poker players. This probably belongs in the OOT forums, but this has as much to do with psychology as anything.

I'm a junior at Penn State University. I made the decision tonight to withdraw from the semester, and to reapply for next semester. When I went home for break, I hinted to my parents that I wasn't getting very good grades. Though upset, she basically told me that I would be paying my tuition from here on out. As I'm out of state, that's about $30K per year.

What I didn't tell her is that I would be most likely failing a class or two, and it was too late to withdraw from them. If I had to guess, I'd say I had 2 F's and 4 C's coming my way. I've had 2 C's in my entire lifetime, and this is what I'm expecting. I'm not sure what happened.

I lost all my will to work this semester. I love my major, but hated the classes I had to take for them. (I'm an actuarial science major. I had to take several business for dummies classes.) The worst part is, one of my Fs is in Insurance, which is based on my major. It's not that it's above me, or that I didn't enjoy it. I just didn't have it in me this semester to do ANYTHING. I basically pissed away $15K to have a good time.

I want to get my life back on track. I want to come back next semester, with the same classes, and ace them. I want to be able to study, and not worry that 2 hours isn't enough time to cram. I want to be able to look towards my future and know that I'll have a job lined up, instead of wondering if some random company will hire Joe Schmo with a 2.0 GPA. Currently, I have a 3.44 GPA. I'm an incredibly, intelligent person. Intelligence only gets you so far though. There's no reason for me not to do well in school, not to have a job/internship lined up for me when I graduate. But, here I am, writing about how I tried to ruin my life.

I'm not sure what I want from this post. I don't really expect any replies. I'll probably get more flames if anything. I needed to express myself though. Hell, if anything, now I know what I can say to my mother tomorrow when she ask "What the [censored] do you mean you're withdrawing."

Thanks for reading. If you feel like replying at all, feel free. My feelings won't be hurt at all by anything you have to say. Even if it's "No one gives a *bleep*"

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I haven't really read all of the replies. But let's look at me. I go to uni, get a 3.0 first semester (which would've been quite a bit higher had I not written down the wrong date for a specific assignment that was worth 15% of my grade in one class.... ugh)

Next sem, my constant recurring sleep problems got about 20x worse, I lose all my will to work, I miss about a month's worth of classes before I get a medical withdrawl...

Yeah. Anyway, I don't have much advice for you, because I'm still in the "take time off and straighten out my head" phase. Hit me up on AIM if you wanna just shoot the [censored] about it. It's encouraged, because it might help me out too hehe. Snoogins47, if you want. If not, of course, that's cool.

Just in case you're wondering, I worked full time for a couple months, I'm doin some part time stuff now, and I'm headed to a Jr. College type thing next semester, with the intent of taking random classes and getting that GPA back up to snuff.

Lifes a bitch
 

A couple of facts,
It is who you know not what you know.
School sucks and if your bored with it quit.
Find a job ( not poker) and work like everyone else in America.
If later you want to go to school you can.

When ever life starts dragging the bottom of the barrel remember there are people who have it a lot harder than you.

Re: My life in shambles (not poker related)
 

First off, sorry to hear about where you are.

I think can offer a couple of relevant notions.

First off, realize you put yourself where you are and have to deal with it. It is going to suck, but like much of life this is going to be something that tests you and eventually makes you stronger. I had a similar situation in my freshman year where I didn't make a 3.0 (got a 2.9) and lost a 1/3 scholarship. My parents in their infinite wisdom said "well you lost it, find a way to pay for it". It hurt at the time, but now I'm glad I did got through it by taking student loans (all paid off now too).

Also, although I am in software development, I did spend 3 years in a reinsurance company. Let me tell you something, if you really like your major, you owe it to yourself to get your act together and graduate. The actuarials in the company I was in (Transamerica) were treated like demigods and were paid astromical salaries. You will have an extremely comfortable lifestyle, will be able to pay your loans off with ease, and you'll have plenty of time/bankroll to play poker! Think about that as you approach your work in the next semester you're in.

About intelligence. Yeah, I never studied a lick all the way through grade school and most of high school and still got all A's and B's. But guess what? College is not about how smart you are - it's about how hard you work. I learned that pretty quickly. I had a friend who didn't. He was one of the brightest guys I knew at the time. Got a 1400 on his SATs and a full ride to NYU. He pissed it all away playing video games and not going to classes and was eventually booted. He's a complete loser now wasting his brains in some ridiculously low level job complaining about life all the time.

It may seem bleak. But you just have to tough it out and get through it. You'll love yourself once it's over, your parents will be thrilled, and you'll be the better man for it.

Good luck!